Arguably the most powerful woman in Ghana football today is former Airtel Ghana CEO, Lucy Quist who has been appointed the Vice President of the Normalisation Committee to run Ghana football.

Quist will assist businessman Dr Kofi Amoah to run Ghana football and organise the election of new executives of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

The gender-balanced four-member Normalisation Committee which began their duties earlier today also has Dua Adonten ( a former Kotoko Board member) and Naa Odofoley Nortey (a Board member of the Attorney General's Department - Legal Aid Scheme) as members.

By virtue of the mandate of the Normalisation Committee, Quist will wield considerable power in Ghanaian football circles over the next few months.

The normalisation committee’s mandate includes the following tasks:

- To run the GFA’s daily affairs and cooperate with the special task force once it has been set up by FIFA, CAF and the Government of Ghana;

- To review the GFA statutes to ensure compliance with the requirements of FIFA and CAF, particularly art. 15 of the FIFA Statutes, and;

- Once the GFA statutes meet the requirements of FIFA and CAF, to organise and conduct elections of a GFA executive committee on the basis of the revised GFA statutes.

Quist is yet to utter her first words as Vice President of the Normalisation Committee but sources say she is expected to bring her rich experience in corporate governance and administration to bear in the day-to-day running of the GFA.

Quist is known as a trailblazer in the Ghanaian telecommunications sector having become the first Ghanaian woman to lead a multinational telecom company (Airtel) in April 2014 although a lot is not known about her involvement in sports asides CSR activities including the Airtel Rising Stars competition during her time at Airtel.

The Airtel Rising Stars was a youth football initiative undertaken by Airtel Africa. The programme, launched in 2011 focused on identifying and nurturing budding soccer talent from the grassroots onto an international stage. It targeted both boys and girls between the ages of 13 – 17.

About Lucy Quist

Born in 1974, Lucy is the founder and CEO of Quist Blue Diamond - a company that leverages technology, engineering, data science to transform business models - and a co-founder of FreshBakery, the parent company of the FreshPay payment platform in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

She also serves as the President of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Ghana. She is a technology professional who advocates for greater participation of young people in STEM for development.

Early life and education

Born in London, United Kingdom, to Ghanaian parents Peter and Mary Afriyie, Lucy Quist spent her formative years in both Europe and Africa. She went to Wesley Girl’s High School in Cape Coast and attended the sixth form at the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School, Accra, both in Ghana.

She went on to study at the University of East London, graduating with a first-class honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

She holds an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Career

Quist began her working life as an Electrical and Electronic Engineer at Ford Motor Company, progressing to Chartered Engineer (IET), UK.

She joined the Royal Bank of Scotland as a change manager. In 2008, she stepped into telecommunications.

Millicom

Quist started her telecommunications career at Millicom International Cellular (MIC), where she worked in business development, sales & distribution, and marketing.

Vodafone

Lucy Quist led the transformation of Vodafone Wholesale from a local to an international player. Later she went on to become the MD of Vodafone Ghana’s Enterprise division.

Quist joined Vodafone in Ghana from Millicom as Head of Strategy & Planning. She also ran the company’s wholesale and enterprise businesses.

Airtel

Since taking over the helm of affairs at Airtel Ghana, as the first Ghanaian woman to lead a multinational telecom company, Quist has successfully re-positioned the company into the fastest growing telecom brand growing customer market share for both voice and data.

She also led Airtel Ghana to win more than 20 prestigious awards.

She personally led #EvolveWithSTEM, Airtel Ghana’s CSR initiative to encourage young people to participate in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Quist resigned from Airtel in 2017 in the face of a merger between Tigo and Airtel.

"After three and a half years of leading the amazing team at Airtel Ghana, the time is right for me to move on to the next chapter. It has been a truly remarkable journey and I thank each and every one of you for your support, encouragement and business partnership over the course of my stewardship. We are proud of our achievements,” Quist posted on social media

“Particularly, I want to thank all those who have been part of the many initiatives I have led over the last few years to empower young people and every young person who works with me for that matter. Notably the Evolve with STEM and the Bold New Normal initiatives. I look forward to empowering more young people even as I continue my professional leadership journey. Together we will create the Bold New Normal of prosperity for our country and continent,” she added.

Boards

Quist serves on both international and local Boards of several establishments including the International Board for African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Petra Trust Company Ltd, Obaatan Pa Women’s Hospital, the Business Environment Enabling Programme under the UK Department of International Development (DFID), the Business Sounding Board for the Danish Embassy, the Industry Advisory Board for Ashesi University, The Exploratory – an initiative of the African Women Advocacy Project, Ghana Climate Innovation Centre and Women in Business Initiative, the Africa CEO Forum.

Honours

Quist has been recognized numerously for her work through the following awards:

- 2016 8th Most Influential Public Figures (Ghana Social Media Rankings)

- Corporate Leadership Award, Ghana Legacy Honours 2017

- Top 50 Women Corporate Leaders in Ghana (WomanRising)

- 100 Most Influential Ghanaian Women, WomanRising

- CSR CEO of the year 2015, Ghana CSR Excellence Awards (GHACEA)

- Telecom CEO of the Year (GITTA Awards 2016)

- Excellence in Corporate Responsibility (Ghana Women of the Year Honours 2016)

- 58th Most Influential Person in Ghana (Ghana’s Most Influential Awards 2016)

- CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year 2014 (CIMG 2015 Awards)

- Special Recognition to the Telecom Industry (GTA 2015)